Person

George Oram was born in 1896 to George and Mary Oram. He was the oldest child of nine brother and sisters all born in West Hartlepool at the turn of the century. George enlisted in the army at the age of 19 on 5 December 1915. On enlistment he became Private 26927 of the 3rd Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry (3DLI) and after spending time in England, was posted to France with the Machine Gun Corps (MGC).

Serving with 114 Company, Oram was involved in the early days of the Battle of the Somme where he was injured on 8 July 1916. He was initially admitted to the 130 St John’s Field Ambulance, then transferred to 34 Casualty Clearing Station. The following day he was transferred to hospital at Wimereux. The injury was perhaps relatively slight as Oram was soon at the Base Depot at Camiers (21 July 1916) awaiting posting. On 24 August, he is posted to 19 Company.

On 7 December 1916, Oram was again admitted to hospital, his record showing ‘NYD’ – not yet diagnosed. Another acronym looks like ‘ISAGTT’ but it has not been possible to decipher this. Whatever the illness, it was severe enough to keep him out of action and in hospital (but not sent to England) until 18 March 1917 when he returned to the Base Depot at Camiers.

This time, Private Oram joined 219 Company on 10 April 1917. On 8 September 1917, he was wounded in a gas attack which resulted him being sent to England on 25 September aboard the SS Jan Breydel. Whilst slow, he did recover and was sent to 2nd (Reserve) Battalion, Machine Gun Corps, at Grantham on 4 February 1918. Oram sailed from Folkestone on 27 March, again bound for the Base Depot. On 4 April 1918, he joined 9th Battalion MGC.

Later that month, 9th Battalion were at Reninghelst (near Poperinghe), Belgium. Intelligence had been received that the Germans were going to attack during the early hours of 25 April. At 2:30am on that morning, the German barrage began, including gas and smoke shells which severely reduced visibility for the British guns. All four companies of 9th Battalion were involved in the retaliation, and remained under fire all day. Several officers and other ranks were killed or wounded that day, with many more the next. Over 25/26 April, eight officers and 154 other ranks were declared missing. One of these was Private George Oram, who it emerged had been captured by the Germans.

What happened next is not very clear. According to the prisoner of war records held by the International Red Cross in Geneva, Oram is on a list of dead from a camp at Friedrichsfeld, yet notes that he died at Hautmont, where he is also buried, which was in German occupied France. The commonwealth War Graves says that the cemetery holds German war dead, and Allied prisoners of war who died in local hospitals. A faded document in Oram’s service record suggests he was at a Bavarian War Hospital, but the location is not legible. This document, and the Red Cross records, state that Oram died of heart failure following pneumonia, on 26 August 1918.

Hautmont and Frierichsfeld are 170 miles apart. It is a matter of speculation, but it does not seem likely that a prisoner would be sent from a camp in Germany to a hospital in German occupied France. Due to the location of Hautmont in relation to Reninghelst, it may be that he became ill on the journey to Friedrichsfeld, and was hospitalised at Hautmont, where he subsequently died.

Sources:
Service record via Ancestry.com
Commonwealth War Graves
International Red Cross, Geneva
9th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps, war diary, The National Archives, WO 95/1757/2

Civil Parish: West Hartlepool

Birth date: 1896

Death date: 26-Aug-1918

Armed force/civilian: Army

Residence: 34 Richard Street, West Hartlepool

Religion: Roman Catholic

Family: Parents: George Oram, Mary Oram
Siblings: Harry Oram, Jack Oram, Matthew Oram, Mary Oram, Annie Oram, Katherine Oram, Jessie Pansy Oram, Helen Oram

Military service:

3rd Battalion, Durham Light Infantry
114 Company, Machine Gun Corps (MGC)
19 Company, MGC
219 Company, MGC
2nd (Reserve) Battalion, MGC
9th Battalion, MGC

Medal(s): British War Medal
Victory Medal

Gender: Male

Contributed by Gemma, Durham University Intern